Import duty on motor cars and other motor vehicles from South Africa

Duty on a $10,000 entry of HTS 8703.23.01.40

An estimate for planning only: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) determines the final duty on your entry. Priced against tariff measures version 2026-10-06.

How much is the import duty on motor cars and other motor vehicles from South Africa?

A shipment of motor cars and other motor vehicles classified under HTS 8703.23.01 and made in South Africa currently pays a total of 25.00% in U.S. import duty. That total is built from two lines, not one: the Column 1 general rate of 2.5%, plus a Section 232 duty on autos and parts of 25.00% charged under Chapter 99. Customers who look up only the base rate in the tariff schedule and stop there are under-budgeting this shipment by 25.00%.

The schedule also lists a special (preferential) rate for this subheading — Free (A+,AU,B,BH,CL,CO,D,E,IL,JO,KR,MA,OM, P,PA,PE,S,SG). A preference applies only if the goods meet the named program's rules of origin and the claim is made on the entry, and it never waives a Chapter 99 additional duty. Whether your goods qualify is a question for a licensed customs broker.

The duty stack, line by line

U.S. duty on this code is assembled from separate legal instruments, each with its own authority. Here is what each line on the entry is:

The base line is HTS 8703.23.01.40 itself at 2.5%, the ordinary most-favored-nation rate that applies to every origin with normal trade relations with the United States.

HTS 9903.94.01 adds 25.00% under Section 232 on autos and auto parts, recorded by the engine as "Section 232 passenger vehicles and light trucks" and applied whether or not the vehicle or part carries another additional duty.

Worked example: a $10,000 shipment

Take one ocean shipment of motor cars and other motor vehicles with an entered value of $10,000 — the customs value of the goods, before freight and insurance. At 25.00%, the duty is $2,500.00. Of that, $0.00 is the Column 1 duty and $2,500.00 is Chapter 99 additional duty. On top of the duty, the entry attracts a merchandise processing fee of $34.64 and, because it arrives by vessel, a harbor maintenance fee of $12.50. Duty and fees together come to $2,547.14, and the engine puts the landed cost of the goods at $12,547.14.

These are ad valorem rates, so a $100,000 entry of the same goods carries about $25,000 in duty, though MPF is capped per entry. Run your own value, entry date and HTS code through the import duty calculator for the same calculation against the same engine.

What changed, and when

The rate here has been stable across the period we can price: an entry dated 15 October 2025 pays the same 25.00% that applies today. Stability is not a promise — Chapter 99 lists are amended by notice, sometimes with days of warning — but this subheading has not been a moving target from South Africa.

An entry dated 15 May 2026 prices at 25.00%, the same total as today. The Section 122 balance-of-payments surcharge in force over that window (24 February to 23 July 2026, since expired) did not attach to this code.

MPF, HMF and what else lands on the entry

Duty is not the whole bill to Customs. The merchandise processing fee is ad valorem with a statutory floor and ceiling per entry — $34.64 on this $10,000 example. The harbor maintenance fee is charged on vessel arrivals only, $12.50 here; the same shipment flown in would pay no HMF.

Not in any of these figures: antidumping and countervailing duties, excise taxes, quota charges, bond costs, and the freight and brokerage that make up the rest of your landed cost. AD/CVD is worth checking before you commit to a supplier — it is assessed on the producer and exporter, not just on the HTS code, and it can dwarf the tariff.

U.S. imports of 8703.23.01 from South Africa

Between March and July 2026 the U.S. imported $30.3 billion under HTS 8703.23.01 from the 55 origins in this dataset; $315 million of it — 1.0% — came from South Africa, making South Africa a smaller supplier on this subheading. The largest were Mexico (30.1%), Japan (20.1%), Germany (18.2%), South Korea (12.5%) and Canada (8.6%).

Census also reports duty actually collected: entries of HTS 8703.23.01.40 from South Africa paid an average effective duty of 27.50% of value over those months. That is above the 25.00% priced here, which usually points to other 10-digit lines in the subheading, or to measures that attach to the goods rather than the code — antidumping and countervailing orders being the usual cause. Treat it as a sanity check on your own numbers, not a forecast of your entry.

Our Automotive Parts & Accessories guide covers packing, classification and handling for this cargo type in more depth than a duty page can.

Planning around this number

Classification drives this: the page prices HTS 8703.23.01.40, the largest 10-digit line under 8703.23.01 for South Africa by import value, and a neighboring line in the same subheading can carry different Chapter 99 exposure. Entry date matters as much as origin — the gap between the dates above is a change in law, not in your goods.

Airlift USA does not hold a U.S. customs broker license — customs entries are handled through our licensed broker network, and the broker of record makes the classification and origin calls. These figures are estimates for planning, produced by the same engine behind our import duty calculator; U.S. Customs and Border Protection determines the final duty on your entry.

How the duty on this shipment changed by entry date

What HTS 8703.23.01.40 covers

Motor cars and other motor vehicles principally designed for the transport of persons (other than those of heading 8702), including station wagons and racing cars > Other vehicles, with only spark-ignition internal combustion piston engines > Of a cylinder capacity exceeding 1,500 cc but not exceeding 3,000 cc > Other > New > Having engines with not more than 4 cylinders > Other

Common questions about duty on HTS 8703.23.01 from South Africa